Why does service seem to be missing from the food service industry these days?

You get what you pay for. They don't get paid enough to care.

Response to Additional comments from the user asking the question:

Most McDonald's employees are just high school or college kids just trying to make a few bucks. They don't care about the business, they only want to do their time and get the paycheck. This is not the case for all, some work their full time and usually provide better service.

And also I agree with the second poster; alot of times the customers could be just as rude which could lead to some of the unpleasant attitudes the employees have.

First of all, have you ever worked in the food service industry? I have for most of my life. I have classic training, and although I have never worked fast food, many of my friends have.

You say "they almost always act like they're underpaid, overworked and underappreciated." That is because they are. Those companies don't give a crap about you or how you are treated. Nor do they care about their employees. The good employees are worked to death, because the others call off for no reason, don't show up on time, ect. They also aren't just standing there. They have orders that need put away, heavy lifting of up to 100 lbs, and cooking for masses who don't care that they are short handed. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a fast food place and seen two or three people running every station they have. You cannot appreciate this fact unless you have worked in fast food.

I'm not saying that this gives them the right to treat customers like idiots, give dirty looks, and the like. What I am saying is that most the time I can sympathize with what they are going through at the time, because I've been there, done that. Most the time I am extremely tolerant because of this, but I have called mother companies before when the service was completely unacceptable. Guess what? They did nothing. They don't care how we are treated, they are greedy and just want our money.

The only way to make a difference, as someone else said I believe, is to STOP going to those restaurants. Find a local spot that has great service. They may take a little longer to prepare your food but the service and the food should be better. Most places will even have your food ready if you call ahead.

If you're tired of the "ungrateful little jerks", stop complaining and go somewhere different. Complaining will get nothing done, it is useless. Good luck trying to change a huge company who doesn't care.

I work in fast food, and I've often noticed how rude the employees are to customers. of course, many customers are rude as well, but that should be beside the point. Part of the problem, I think, is that a lot of employees view their job as a social activity, a place to have fun, and not really a job. Part of the other problem is that, at least where I live, workers are extremely scarce and they can do almost anything short of theft and not get fired for it. You also have to take into account that many fast food places are extremely short staffed and this can put a huge burden on the employees...I mean think about it...for example, the other night at work, we were very short staffed. I was doing drive thru...I had to take the orders, take the money, bag the orders, and hand out the orders...this process usually requires four people to accomplish it quickly and accurately...I had huge line up...5 ppl in the drive-thru and four or five more constantly behind them waiting to order. But while I was doing the job of four people, the customers expected that I would still be able to give them the same fast and friendly service.So often the employees are very stresses.

On the other side of the coin, I honestly don't understand why so many of them are so rude...I really can't answer that...but I do know that until the North American society has enough workers that managers are able to enforce great customer service without firing the whole work force, things will probably stay the same.

But I agree with you that fast food employees are often very rude...I cringe often when I hear the way my fellow employees speak to customers. But some customers are rude too...I think our society is just getting ruder in every generation.

It sounds horrible, but the food service industry does make a person bitter towards the public after a certain point. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you! When I ask for an extra packet of BBQ for my kid's nuggets, I only want the sauce, not the ugly look I also receive.

To the second reply: It should not matter how often people come into your restaurant. If I am in there once a week or once a month, I deserve great service! It is quite a possibility that the people that you are outwardly rude to, choose to not return due to your attitude. It only takes one rude encounter to guide a few miles away to another place to eat.

Stinky, at mcdonalds we have upwards of 1000 customers A DAY---10 or more per minute at peak hours. You're not going to get the special treatment unless you go there every single day and shower us with rays of sunshine. The ones that do, I remember, and give them what they want before they even order it!

There are a whole bunch who come once, scream and holler like two year olds over the most ridiculous, most insignificant thing, and never return---not my problem.

RUDE employees continue to be the downfall of McDonalds. You can spend a billion dollars on great advertising and develop cool new items for the menu, and your restaurant will STILL fail if the people serving it up act like fools.

They hire half asleep young people that don't know what tired is(after working hard) They would rather be on their cell phones or playing videos. Let's give an adult or, elderly person the job instead. They depend on that little money to keep themselves alive. The punks are still living with mom and dad usually. You get what you pay for(Do you hear this stores?) I will not shop at ........... because the cashiers are all but dead when they tell you, your total bill amount, they act like you rudely owe them for your purchase.

I stood at the counter at McD's last week and watched the employees talking to each other (while looking at me standing there) and never did come over to take my order. I left the way I came in...empty handed! What I hate is when I do get waited on and I try to be nice and polite and I can't even get a grunt out of the server! I just figure that they hate their job and since they aren't nice, can't get a better job any other place except food services.

if food sales slumped due to poor service, then maybe costumer service would be a priority of the fast food industry, but because fat americans will always eat there BK and McDonalds even if service sucks, what motiviation would BK and McDonalds have to invest millions of dollars into improving costumer service at there thousands of stores.

and why would a McDonalds employee respect costumers...there paycheck is the same each week whether you eat there or not...if you want better service, consider making fastfood a tip driven industry like sit down resturantes because then people can't afford to suck at their jobs